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“My brother?” A crease etches between his brows. “Alex?”
“No, Blaise,” I quicken my pace.
“Hadley, please just wait a minute.” He captures my sleeve, and I grind to a halt. He waits for me to turn around before he says, “What do you mean I should ask Blaise?” He releases my sleeve. “Did he …?” He seems so lost. “Did he do something to you?”
I search his eyes, questioning if he’s really as clueless as he’s acting, but I don’t know him well enough to determine that.
Huffing in frustration, I move over to the trash can, grab a flyer out of it, and slap it against Rhyland’s chest. “Those were all over the school this morning, and I’m pretty sure Blaise was behind the prank. I also think maybe you had something to do with it since I told you about our … colorful past with the law.”
He skims over the flyer, then his gaze elevates to mine. “I didn’t have anything to do with this, I swear.” He appears sincere, but again, I don’t know him well enough to be certain. “And trust me; neither would Blaise.”
I snort a laugh. “Okay, just like he didn’t slash my tires.”
His brows furrow. “But he didn’t.”
“Um, yeah, he did. He even said he did.” I walk away, not wanting to hear any more of his lies.
Honestly, I can’t blame him. If I were in his position and one of my sisters was getting accused of something like this, I’d lie for them, too.
And that’s exactly why I hightail it toward the library. Because it’s time to put a stop to this whole thing with the Porterson brothers. And I’ll start by digging up some dirt on them, just like they did to us.
11
HADLEY
Since I’ve usedmy data for the month and can’t access the school’s internet from my phone, I use the library computers to do a little bit of digging on the Portersons. When I type their names into the search engine, I get all sorts of hits, from petty theft to stealing a car. How they haven’t been arrested yet is beyond me.
I also find out the names of their parents and their sister, Scarlett Porterson, who has gotten into just as much trouble and has spent some time in a psychiatric facility. She also has a different mom than Alex and Rhyland, and Blaise and Jaxon—guess Payton was right about their dad being a huge cheater—and she lives with her mom not too far away from our neighborhood.
Alex and Rhyland’s mom has been in trouble with the law so many times she makes my dad look like a saint. And as for their dad, well, he’s linked to many, many crimes in town, and a lot of charges are related to an illegal underground gambling club, yet somehow the guy has never been arrested.
Interesting. And maybe useful.
I continue to scroll through the information, trying to find out something about Blaise and Jaxon’s mom, but I can’t find much of anything, other than she was once married to their father, unlike Scarlett’s mom and Alex and Rhyland’s. Talk about a soap opera.
I’m so caught up in my research that I barely notice when the bell rings.
“Interesting research.”
I jolt at the sound of Blaise’s voice then quickly collect myself.
“Yeah, it’s definitely interesting. I really like the part where Alex was arrested for drug trafficking.” I spin the chair around to face him.
He’s standing too close for comfort with a book in his hand, his expression guarded. “He wasn’t arrested for that.”
“That’s not what his record says.”
“Yeah, well, the charges were dropped.”
“So what? He was still arrested.”
“Over a misunderstanding,” he stresses, shifting his weight uneasily.
So, his brothers are his weakness. I can understand that. Doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on him.
“Sure it was. Just like I’m sure the time he was arrested for stealing a car was a misunderstanding, too.” I rise to my feet, collecting my bag from the back of the chair as the tardy bell rings.
Great. I’m late on the first day. Not a good start to a new school year.
